WILSN Unleashed Her Own Medley of Soul, Jazz, and Pop w/ New Single “Home”

You may have heard whispers of WILSN before – the Nashville-by-way-of-Melbourne songstress racked up 1M streams on her debut EP Don’t Give Up independently. Since her arrival on the scene, she’s garnered praise from HillyDilly, The Guardian, and Complex’s Pigeons & Planes to name a few. Influenced by iconic voices like Aretha Franklin, Amy Winehouse, and Lauryn Hill, WILSN embraces her old soul unapologetically while adding a touch of modern flare on each track. With this in mind, it’s no surprise she’s already supported notable acts such as the late Charles Bradley, Allen Stone, and Meg Mac, is represented ICM Partners (Blackbear, Kamasi Washington, Khalid, Lalah Hathaway, Nicki Minaj), and has a worldwide publishing deal with Pulse/Native Tongue (BORNS, Miike Snow, DRAM, Courtney Barnett).

The singer-songwriter unleashed her own medley of soul, jazz, and pop entitled “Home,” the very first taste of music to come following “Do This” which launched just ahead of the new year as a middle finger to the industry and those who advised her to mold into the mainstream. Crafted in Nashville, TN, WILSN enlisted the help of Jon Upton and Stephen Mowat, as well as bass player Adam Keafer (Kacey Musgraves) and drummer Jake Finch (Lucy Dacus). PopMatters called the track “entrancing” and “moving” and additionally raved about WILSN’s “masterful [storytelling].” Shortly following the audio release, the nostalgia-filled video made from WILSN’s personal footage launched exclusively via NYLON. You can watch the video below.

On the single and video, WILSN said: “This was written in Nashville with friend and bandmate Jon Upton. Jon came up with the piano hook and showed it to me one day then Stephen Mowat added a beat and some other production. The music video for ‘Home’ was made from my own personal footage over the last two years of my life spent traveling between Melbourne, Nashville, Austin, and LA. The feeling was bittersweet – at the same time I was enjoying my time overseas working on my music and forging lifelong friendships with new people. I decided to film everything along the way as a way of documenting how I felt, sort of like a video diary. In the verses where the lyrics are of a conversational nature and filled with reflection, you see the world from my point of view out of car windows as journeying from city to city contemplating everything. “

With WILSN, what you see is what you get – a real singer, with real songs, and a real band. She is a force to be reckoned with on stage, captivating audiences with her vocal prowess. With each commanding performance, her authentic brand of soul-influenced pop comes to life.

Growing up in a musical family, the talented singer can’t remember a time in her life when she wasn’t in love with music. She started piano lessons at a young age, and fondly remembers her older brother playing blues piano and guitar, introducing her to the genre. Her mother would blast The Bee Gees and Stevie Wonder in the car, and her father’s record collection had all the classics – Aretha Franklin, Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Nina Simone – but it wasn’t until he brought home The Blues Brothers movie on videotape that her love affair with soul music began. She was soon singing in choirs and fronting school bands, where she learned how to overcome her shyness and sing on stage in front of large audiences. Her first paid gig was during her final year of high school, singing at a jazz club despite being underage.

WILSN landed a coveted spot studying Bachelor of Music (Jazz Improvisation) at the prestigious Victorian College of the Arts in Melbourne. While studying, WILSN played gigs around Melbourne with her self- confessed “pretty terrible songs.” But by 2015, she’d honed her sound and landed gigs across the globe. That same year, WILSN released her debut single, “Unmeet You.” Ten days, no paid publicity and 15,000 Soundcloud plays later, it was added to full rotation on Double J, Triple J Unearthed and ABC 774. Her second single “Walking For Days” premiered on Triple J and garnered 80,000 Spotify plays in two weeks, which led to it being #6 on Spotify’s Top 10 Most Viral Tracks globally.

WILSN spent time in Nashville to focus on songwriting, and played her debut US shows at SXSW in Austin, Texas. Life in Nashville sprouted the legs of her next EP through collaborations with established writers including Grammy-winner Matthew Odmark (Jars of Clay) and the Grammy-nominated Ben Abraham (Kesha, Demi Lovato, Sara Bareilles).

Taking in the experiences she’s had in both Melbourne and Nashville, WILSN has remained true to herself and forged ahead with her own stye – promising herself to only make music that makes her happy.

SHARE ON FACEBOOK SHARE ON TWITTER